Out of Nothing At All

By: Maygin

Summary: A continuation of Tale of Six Jumps - Apocalypse averted, the siblings are trying to maintain some sense of normality but evolving powers and a certain mysterious redhead seemed determined to thwart their efforts. Rated T for language.

Author Note: I honestly hadn't planned on continuing my previous fic, however, after spending countless hours reading all the Umbrella Academy fanfics out there, I couldn't shut my brain off from certain scenarios I kept wanting addressed but just wasn't. I'm sure other authors have done something similar and I either missed it, or just wanted more. I'm a needy wench, what can I say? This is mostly based on the Netflix series, however, aspects of the comics fascinated me and I really wanted to see some of it come to fruition in the Netflix verse. I have about 85% of this story already written and will be posting weekly or more depending on my own impatience :) As always, reviews are very much welcome!

Chapter 1

Ben's head felt heavy against his fist, his eyes blinking slowly, accompanied by a sigh through his nose. He was starting to become concerned with the amount of family meetings that were called into session since their father had passed. He didn't think normal families called for special meetings whenever they needed to discuss something, but what did he know?

He knew he should just be grateful they were all making an effort at being open, honest and inclusive with each other for once. The apocalypse had been averted, yay. Five had dumped them from the timeline into the night following their father's funeral. Not one of them had even considered debating whether they should've jumped to prior Reginald Hargreeves death. It was just accepted that they were all better off without his presence.

Vanya, still tortured with guilt, kept quiet for the most part; but was opening up slowly the more they encouraged her and asked her opinions. Pogo had taken the news of their recent ventures with minimal upset and actually seemed quite proud of their thwarting of the apocalypse. He held no more secrets back and shared everything he knew that Reginald Hargreeves had bothered to impart. They'd spent the last three days pouring over their father's journals, notes and recordings; anything they could get their hands on.

It was now day four and Luther had called yet another family meeting to discuss the one family member who was currently absent and had been since returning from the apocalyptic future.

"Do you think maybe he should...see a doctor?" Luther hedged.

Vanya's forehead puckered a bit, the thought had crossed her mind more than once, however she could already foresee the outcome of such an encounter. It was Diego, however, that voiced it.

"Like a psych doctor? Are you out of your mind?" he chastised harshly. "The second Klaus opens his mouth they'll be pumping him up to his eyeballs with meds. He'll be right back where he started."

"Well what are we supposed to do? He can't stay in his room all the time. It's not healthy."

"Nothing about Klaus has ever been healthy," Five spoke up from where he sat on a bar stool, casually leant back against the bar. "The fact is, this is probably the least destructive thing he's ever done. I say we leave him be for now; give him some time."

"He's not eating," Allison reminded.

"He's not high either," he responded, his gaze bouncing between them. "We're not a normal family, guys. We don't get to celebrate birthdays or promotions like normal people. Klaus just spent three days surrounded by a world full of traumatized and pissed off ghosts. And his power evolved in the midst of it. Lucky him," he spoke so casually. "I, for one, count it a win he didn't go running to the nearest dealer the second we got back."

The room was silent for a moment, all eyes on the shortest member. Luther was the first to blink and speak. "Are you...praising Klaus?"

Five sighed and shook his head, sliding from the stool and then micro-jumping from the room.

Diego nodded along with Luther's sentiment. "That was super weird."

"Five grew up without us," Vanya explained softly. "Now he has to re-grow up with us. He's trying; he needs time," she shrugged. "Klaus needs time. We all just need some time...to re-acclimate to one another, remember what it's like to be a...really weird family."

Ben sighed and pushed himself up from the couch, they really weren't getting anywhere anyways. "I'm going back upstairs."

"No," Vanya halted him and then hesitantly offered, "You were with him all night; I'll go sit with him for a while. Take a break."

Ben hesitated as well but then nodded gratefully. It wasn't that every fiber within him wanted to be there for his brother, to help snap him out of whatever funk he'd drifted into...but he'd also just recently re-joined the living. After 13 years, he was able to speak and be heard by anyone with ears to hear, able to touch, smell, taste, feel...and all he wanted to do was find a warm corner, curl up and get lost in a book for a couple hours.

xxxxxxxxxx

Vanya paused at the door which sat open for all to see after they had removed the lock. Klaus looked so small curled up against the headboard of his bed, head tilted toward the window, just staring; at what, she had no idea. He was so still and quiet, and so completely un-Klaus it made her stomach feel hollow and empty.

She lightly knocked on the door frame despite knowing it wouldn't faze him and then quietly entered. Climbing onto the bed she sat shoulder to shoulder with her brother. She didn't really know what to do so she just looked out the window with him. Eventually she slid down a bit and rested her head on his shoulder. To her complete surprise, his head turned and gently rested on top of hers.

She was suddenly reminded of her time locked in the quiet room in the basement. She remembered slapping her hands against the thick plastic window, crying, apologizing and pleading with her siblings to forgive her. She hadn't noticed it in her panicked state at the time, but looking back, she remembered the absolute look of dread and trepidation on Klaus' face as he realized they were locking her away in what was essentially a dungeon. She couldn't hear their words, but she could tell by his gestures that he'd argued with them to let her out.

It was appreciated now, but she couldn't rid her mind of the expression on his face when he'd looked at her. He hadn't solely been arguing for her freedom; hadn't only seen her locked in a room. There had been a far away look in his eyes at one point that was saturated in fear and terror. Funny what your mind remembered when at the time you were so involved in your own panic and hysteria.

She understood now; Klaus and her were more alike than any of the other's could comprehend. They'd both been locked away in dark places for their own good...alone with their own thoughts and ghosts to haunt them. She reached over and threaded her fingers through his and just sat with him like that for a while.

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Five leaned back in the desk chair, ignoring it's squeaky protests, and sipped at a to-go cup of coffee he'd picked up at Griddy's and jumped back home with. He contemplated the many screens flickering before him, one in particular had drawn his full attention. It was the feed from Four's room.

Klaus had been sitting on the bed in the same position he'd been in the last couple days, staring out the window without a flicker of emotion. Nothing new there, until Seven had entered. She had crawled up onto the bed next to him and sat for a bit, a faraway look in her eyes; likely trying to make sense of the last week...or their entire lives.

It was when Seven had shifted and rested her head against Four's shoulder that he suddenly froze and leaned closer to the screen, setting his coffee on the desk, forgotten. Something had happened to the feed, but in a very peculiar way that had him rewinding the feed and playing it over and over. Immediately after Seven rested her head on Four's shoulder, the image around Klaus seemed to blur and fuzz out a bit; the rest of the image unaffected.

After multiple viewings and no closer to a conclusion or explanation, he let it play, watching as the odd defect suddenly cleared and Four leaned his head on Seven. The two linked hands and soon after drifted into sleep.

Five remembered his coffee and leaned back in the squeaky chair once more, sipping at the black liquid. Maybe he was addicted to drama and the unexplained...he was okay with that. Especially if it involved his family.

If there was one thing he'd learned in the last 40 something years, apart from each other, they were dangerous, loose cannon's capable of destroying the world. Together, they were still dangerous, loose cannon's capable of destroying the world, but they somehow, in the most screwed up and amazing way, they seemed to balance one another out.

And somehow that made it better.

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Vanya nearly tripped as she hurried down the front hall steps. Diego and Luther were there to greet her, hearing her stomping, rushed feet and coming to investigate.

"Have you seen Klaus?" she asked, out of breath with wide, panicked eyes.

Luther frowned, "I thought you were with him."

"I was," said admitted guiltily. "But we fell asleep and when I woke up, he wasn't there."

"What's going on?" Ben asked warily as he and Allison followed down the stairs, hearing the commotion from their rooms.

"Klaus is missing," Diego announced severely.

"What?" Ben's eyes widened with shock as he looked for confirmation from Vanya who nodded regretfully.

"Found him," Five's voice called from downstairs. The other siblings raced down the stairs to the basement communal area and paused behind Five who stood at the entrance with his hands in his pockets and his usual calculative frown in place. They all stared at Four who sat frozen at the table with a bowl of cereal and spoon halfway to his mouth, watching them back with equal curiosity.

"What?" Klaus asked around a mouthful of Cap'n Crunch. There were a stack of bowls on the table with spoons, milk and several boxes of different types of children's cereal scattered about.

"Dad doesn't let us eat sugary foods," Luther said, dumbfounded and going with the only sensible thought he could grasp onto.

Klaus shrugged. "Someone left them at the back door," he said innocently and just like that he was back to eating.

Diego felt his forehead scrunch as he took a step forward. "Some random stranger just left a bunch of cereal boxes at the back door and the first thing you think to do is eat them?"

Klaus shrugged defensively. "I was gonna share," he pointed at the bowls, spoons and milk he'd set out. Ben smirked and walked up to the table, investigating one of the boxes. "I'd avoid that one," Klaus suggested, "bad aftertaste."

Allison was next to join him, grabbing a bowl and reaching for the Smacks box. Eventually they'd all grabbed a bowl and were trying different cereals, commenting and judging each one by different standards. Except Five who contentedly sat sipping at a new cup of steaming coffee.

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Diego pushed the door to the observation room open and slid into the squeaky chair next to Five who didn't bother acknowledging his entrance. He looked over the familiar screens.

"What made you think of getting cereal?" Diego asked with a smirk.

Five's chin puckered as his bottom lip pushed out and he shook his head. "I didn't get the cereal."

That gave Diego pause. "It wasn't you?"

"No, some random lady in a blue coat dropped them off."

"What?" Diego stared at Five, gobsmacked. "You saw it?"

Five nodded and pointed to the screens. "On the feed."

"And you let us eat it?" he asked slowly and in a voice that expressed patience but really meant he was restraining himself from grabbing a knife. "Have you lost your mind?"

"Here," Five announced and pressed a couple buttons on the console, "look at this."

Diego pressed his lips firmly together, still pissed and questioning his brother's sanity as he turned to watch the two monitor's Five brought up a feed on. One feed showed the back entrance door. The other feed was of Klaus' room with the crazy brother himself huddled in the corner of his bed, unmoving as he stared out the window. Diego hated seeing his brother like that, it legit hurt. Klaus had always been a constant live wire of energy and movement and words...lots of words.

Seeing him curled up so small and with such a complete lack of any kind of emotion or movement other than the occasional blink or slow rise and fall of chest...it caused a weight in his chest that he couldn't shake. "What am I looking at?" he cleared his throat when his voice caught.

Five didn't response, just moved the video forward a bit until Vanya had entered and climbed onto the bed. That was when the lady in a blue coat opened the back gate and walked up to the back door with two large shopping bags in hand. The woman set the bags down on the step and then suddenly the image around her blurred and fuzzed a bit. When it went back to normal, the woman looked confused, taking in her surroundings. She left the bags and hurried her way back toward the street completely befuddled until she disappeared out of site.

Diego was about to comment again at his brother's sanity but Five held up a finger and rewound the feed. He played it again and this time pointed toward Klaus' room. They watched Vanya enter and climb onto the bed. The blue coat lady dropped by around that point. As soon as Vanya rested her head on Klaus' shoulder, the image around Klaus fuzzed the same time it blurred on the blue coat lady. Once it normalized, Klaus blinked and rested his head on top of Vanya's, drifting to sleep soon after. The blue coat lady left in all her glorious bafflement.

"Play that again," Diego demanded, the cogs in his brain turning. His eyes bounced between the screens as it played through once more. Once it finished, he turned to look at Five who returned the look with a raised, expectant brow. "Did he just…"

"Mind-whammy a woman into bringing us a bunch of children's cereals?" Five gave the screen another contemplative look. "I do believe that to be the case."

Diego would've laughed if he wasn't so mystified. It was just like Klaus to discover some new dark level of his power only to use if to purchase a sugary treat for the family...all on someone else's dime. He shook his head. "Do you think he knows?"

"You mean do I think it's possible Klaus subconsciously possessed a woman because he was hungry for Cap'n Crunch?"

Diego didn't respond, realizing once it had been verbalized how stupid it really sounded. Then again...it was Klaus.

Five's gaze narrowed at the screen's as his head tilted in contemplative thought. "I don't know," he answered honestly with a sigh. "I think it's best to just watch him for now. If he doesn't know, we'll only freak him out by telling him."

"And if he does know, he'll tell us when he's ready," Diego nodded along with a sigh of his own.

"Exactly."

...tbc